flowers for sakura
by metaphorically-blue
Summary: AU She's gotten a lot of flowers. /SasuSaku ficlets/ /On semi-permanent Hiatus./
1. black mary janes

A/N: And the new project begins. Oh dear.

These will be ficlets, short and sweet. I am double-dog-daring myself to update at least once a week, if not more. Mostly SasuSaku, occasionally other characters popping in. It will mostly be AU. Lots of symbolism, perhaps linear. I will be most definitely experimenting on style with this. Whee.

blue periwinkles

She turned six a day ago.

Her mother bought her brand new shoes, Mary Janes with small flowers on the sides and buckles that shone in the sunlight streaming from the window. Her father gave her a lollipop, a huge one that turned her tongue blue as she sucked on it. Everyone in her father's restaurant hugged her and said she looked lovely in a pretty dress that billowed out as she spun in circles.

She went to the park down the street, the one with swings that creaked and a huge wheel that older children spun until the world, as seen from within the protective bars, was a blur. Her mother told her that she would be there soon, just give her about fifteen minutes, so she stood watching the other children playing, waiting quietly.

It had been about five minutes, and as she turned towards the swings, a boy knocked her down into the gravel.

She sat there, dazedly gazing at her knee, which was bleeding through the pretty dress, staining it an ugly red. Tears were welling up in the corners of her eyes, but she was too stunned to bawl, merely staring at the scarlet tingeing the hem of her dress.

"Do…do you need some help?"

She looked up, and found herself staring at a dark-haired boy who was glancing down at her, almost unconcerned. Shaking her head, her pink, short hair falling into her eyes, she tried to lever herself up, only to not make it.

The boy frowned. His eyes were grey-black, like the cool silk dress that her mother wore for special occasions, and his forehead furrowed as he considered her. Finally, he stuck out his hand, and, when she didn't immediately take it, grabbed her own and hauled her onto her feet.

"Thank you…" She frowned, and then said, rubbing her eyes, "I don't know your name."

"…Sasuke." He was still frowning, messy black hair stuck up in the back, and he shuffled his feet, turning around to run down the pathway.

She stood there, staring, her knee bleeding sluggishly. As he rounded the corner to a place that was out of sight, she shouted, "Thank you, Sasuke!" He turned around for a fraction of a second, and she smiled at him, before he took off again.

Her mother walked up to her, and immediately asked who that had been. The girl shook her head, and her mother saw the scraped knee and the stained hem. As her mother carried her back to the restaurant, asking questions and promising to clean up the cuts, she looked her feet, sticking out between her mother's arms.

Her shoes were scuffed and dirty, but the blue periwinkles, near her shiny silver buckles, were untouched.

_-early-_

_FIN_

_-friendship-_

Review. Please. Thank you muchly.


	2. choose your words

A/N: I have decided that chronological order is boring. XD Hopefully, the order will be clear. If not, tell me so, and I will fix things and/or write explanatory notes.

Disclaimer: …I don't own any of it.

lotus

"So, why don't you talk as much?"

It's a simple question, really—why don't you ever respond with complete sentences, and _no, _"Aa" or "Hn" doesn't count—but he takes his time to answer it.

"Because I don't want to waste my words."

She's probably got a million tables to bus, but she insists on sitting across him, strands of candy-colored hair falling into her face, and taps her pen on the table while she watches him watching her. Her eyes flick up and down, waiting for more details, but apparently brevity is the essence of an Uchiha (or was it wit?), for he doesn't continue.

"Well?" Her nose wrinkles up as her gaze sharpens into an almost-glare, and the pen beats out a faster beat, a staccato metronome that's a nanosecond behind his pulse. "Do you care to explain yourself today, or do I have to wait another ten minutes?"

He shakes his head, and his hair is longer now, longer than it was when he was younger, now it's barely shorter than her own uneven mane that's been swept up from her face, and he has to be careful because these days he's gotten wary and cares about being able to see out of the corners of his eyes. His face is thinner too, sharp with angles and planes, and she wonders how he could have changed so fast—and then she _remembers_, and its' all clear again.

She stands up, stretching her arms above her head, and watches him while pulling her hands up, causing her shoulder bones to pop. "Guess I have to go now." She turns away, shoes thumping on the tile. He watches her go, staring over his cold mug of coffee. He knows why she had to take this job—her parents are working hard, but college is expensive and grad school even more so, and she wants to help and pick up the slack—but it still bothers him, when she looks asleep on her feet and has guys flirting with her all the time.

But instead of (_not-really-well-okay-maybe_) torturing himself by watching the guy in his Literature class hit on her, he decides to pull out his Calculus textbook and begin work on logarithms and complicated equations that no normal (_sane_) person would tackle willingly while sipping cold black coffee.

Half an hour later, he has to go, but he leaves something on the table as he goes out—probably to study in the library or do homework.

She picks it up, considering it with a half smile, and tucks the lotus into her hair.

_-eloquence-_

_FIN_


	3. love, love me do

A/N: I am aware that Sasuke giving flowers is OOC. …I will try to make it better! Seriously!

Anyhoo, happy Valentine's Day/Singles Awareness Day/my sister's birthday!

red carnations

Walking into school, I inexplicably felt a sudden vibe of sadness and irritation at the world. This feeling became even more intense as I trudged through the hallways and saw various couples walking around, looking even more upbeat than usual.

I looked around the first period classroom, taking in the red, pink, and white decorations that graced the ceiling and desks as I headed for my spot. Trying to figure out what this was for, I sat at my desk and ran through my own mental calendar. _Today, there's a history test, an essay due—oh yeah, I was surprised because it was all on February 14__th__, aren't the teachers cruel because its…_

I hit my forehead with my palm, wincing. Of course. It was Valentine's Day today. No wonder I felt depressed.

Because even though I had Tenten, who would give me sharpened pencils (and other, more dangerous things that would most definitely not pass through the metal detector), and Hinata, who would see me and give me some of the chocolate that she would come _this close_ to giving to Naruto (but not this year, because he's still oblivious and she's still too shy), and Ino, who'll come up to me and tell me that we're having a girls night and yes, _you are coming_ (because Ino's still taking a vacation on that river in Egypt about what—or rather who—she wants)—even though I have all this—I'm still not going to get flowers.

(Well, okay, Lee will probably give me a bouquet, and Naruto will give me ramen along with a blossom or two—but I'm not going to get some from the person who I wish would give me some.)

I stared, unseeing, at the blackboard. Stupid holiday with its stupid chocolate and effing stupid _flowers_.

"Um…are you Sakura?"

I glanced up at the pimply-faced kid holding some of the bright red carnations that they had been selling in the cafeteria all week. Slowly, I nodded.

"These are for you." He thrust three of the flowers into my hand and shuffled away. I stared at the tag, and then grinned, holding the flowers carefully as I pulled out the things I needed for class.

Maybe Valentine's Day would be a little better than I thought.

_-for my poor heart-_

_FIN_

EPILOGUE:

"You idiot! You could at least give me the flowers yourself! Geez!"

_Whack!_

The End.

(For real. I'm serious this time.)


	4. dealing with the after

A/N: This depressed me, and I think I put Itachi in an asylum for this collection. Plus, I think this was an emowoe!author fic. Probably because my World Geo teacher makes us watch depressing movies.

dahlias

_It's dark here_, you think—dark and cold and dank and gloomy.

You don't want to be here, but something compelled you to come, and here you are, clutching the obituaries you cut out of the news to your chest and holding some flowers that you bought at Ino's parent's shop (_these ones? _said she, and you nod, _yes, those_) that are dark, just like this morning, just like this place of quiet melancholy.

_-and did you ever wonder about what he was thinking when he saw the blood and the stained wooden floors and no more, no more are his parents but he is still the second son and the other son is still first even though you don't think he deserves to be, no, not at all-_

You weave your way through the neat rows of stones that stare back at you, carved names and dates that are meaningless facts when compared with your goal.

-_but only to you, because for some poor soul, these are the past that will haunt and the future that is gone_-

You stare at the names, the gravestones that are covered with moss and have only dead flowers to placate the dead, the lines of monuments with the same last name.

_-he only told you about it yesterday because yesterday the nightmare finally ended-_

You place the flowers on the graves, leaving the dahlias and walking away through the twisted rows of headstones and plaques, passing an old woman who has come to pay her respects. The walk that takes you through the cast iron gate turns into a run as you go home.

_-you wonder if you could have lived with it, and you don't think so, no, never_-

The obituaries are six years old.

_-instability-_


	5. date rapists, daisies, & de nile

A/N: Written on my sick day. Stupid colds/fever. X(

Anyways, totally cracky, definitely had some Bad Kitty references, and ya. _Italics_ is Sakura, **Bold** is Sasuke, and _**Bold Italics **_is Naruto. Enjoy!

daisies

**Sakura—Did you get the answer for #5?**

_No, I wasn't paying attention. Why?_

**Naruto says he needs you to help him copy the homework.**

_I'm NOT going to help him cheat! Are you kidding me?_

**I don't kid.**

_Yeah, well, besides that. But what about the history homework? What was that about anyways?_

**The Napoleonic Wars.**

_Right. And I so totally understand what that is—NOT._

**Then how did you get into Honors courses?**

_I don't know—you're the nerd, not me._

**I'm not a nerd, Sakura. Smart, yes, but not nerdy**.

_Yeah, yeah, keep denying it—I know what you do after school, You-Who-Tivos-History-Channel._

**You're just jealous of the fact that I'm more intelligent than you are.**

_I'm so not jealous, because I am __way__ smarter than you. So there._

…

_I thought so._

**Sakura…**

…_What now?_

**What is that?**

_What's what?_

**That…planet thing on your paper. **

_It's not a planet! It's a daisy! God! And you call yourself perceptive._

**That…thing looks nothing like a daisy.**

_It is too! Just because I'm not the world's greatest artist means that you should judge my doodles like that._

_Speaking of art, have you seen Sai's new painting?_

**Sakura…**

_It was really good! And just because you think he's a date rapist even though we went on one date where nothing even remotely happened doesn't mean that you should hate his art on principle. _

**I swear that guy is hiding something.**

_That's what you say about __all__ my boyfriends. Really. Our high school is not completely populated by date rapists, so the probability of all my boyfriends being in that category is just paranoia. _

**Maybe you just have unusually awful taste in men. I think you're the only girl in class who has dated a guy on probation.**

_Gaara was really nice, though! And he didn't do anything even remotely constituting a move on me. _

**Still, that guy was definitely on the psycho side.**

_HE WAS NOT!_

_**What are you guys talking about?**_

_Sasuke thinks all my boyfriends are date rapists._

_**That's because he's swimming in a river in Egypt.**_

**Naruto, you can just shut the f—k up.**

_**Language, bastard. Language.**_

_**And don't deny it. You are totally swimming.**_

_Um, guys…_

_**Stop kicking me! You bastard!**_

**Deserved it.**

_I think the room's maturity levels just dropped like woah._

"**Like woah"?**

_Shut up._

_**Dammit Sasuke, I'll get you back for this! Just you wait!**_

_Naruto, he already left. It's called "break time"._

_**Whatever. Anyways, I'm sure that soon enough Sasuke will get past his terror of commitments and…**_

_And what? … AND WHAT?_

_NARUTO?_

_Stupid __boys__…_

_-innocence-_

_FIN_


	6. sushi goes best with catfights

A/N: Good morrow! …So, this has some language. And catfights. But, really, it's all very low-key. I mean, there are no f-bombs. And _I_ like it. So enjoy. XD

french marigolds

Kakashi sighed.

In the thirty seconds he had taken to go get a drink, all hell had decided to break loose inside Class 007. It was as if the obviously chaotic combination of Naruto, Sakura, Sai, Karin, Suigetsu, Juugo, and Sasuke was only waiting for a teacher to be gone in order to explode. Really, who had been the genius to put all seven of them into one Health class?

He then remembered that Tsunande had done scheduling after one of Jiraiya's birthday bashes.

_So that's why the paper had had a very suspicious stain on it…_

But that was neither here nor there—no, the problem was that Karin and Suigetsu were arguing. Loudly.

Really, _really_ loudly.

"Shut the hell up, fish freak!"

"Four eyes!"

"Sushi! I could eat you for lunch!" Karin paused in the middle of shouting, only to see a perverted grin slide into place on Suigetsu's face. "Not like that, you _freak_!"

Arm waving and bellowing soon commenced. For _ten minutes_.

Sakura finally stood up, walked over, and placed herself firmly in between the two, hands on hips. "God, will the two of you stop your flirting or foreplay or whatever the hell it is for five freaking _seconds_?"

There was a pause. One second of blissful, long awaited _silence_.

Unfortunately for Kakashi, it wasn't going to last.

"You…you flat-chested wannabe!" Karin's glasses flashed for a second in triumph.

One second of silence. Then two.

Sakura snapped. Glaring down at her foe, she seemed to tower over the other girl.

"I'm a _what_, you _biatch_?"

Eyes blazing, the two girls started to shout each other down, quickly descending into obscenities and implications that could help Jiraiya start his next book. Sasuke slowly made his way over to Kakashi, finally whispering, "Aren't you supposed to _stop_ these sorts of things?"

Kakashi's lone eye crinkled as he watched what was soon to be a full-out catfight, complete with hair pulling, scratching via perfectly filed nails, and a heck of a lot of screaming. Even the flower tucked into Sakura's bun did not go unscathed.

"Nah. This is far more entertaining."

Sasuke gave a "hn" in response. Kakashi could feel the death rays hitting the back of his neck.

"Look kid, I honestly don't know why you're protesting—it's two chicks fighting over _you_. Complete with short skirts."

_FIN_

_-jealousy-_


	7. baby, i'm intoxicated with you

A/N: This was _not_ based on personal experience. Just so you know. (But it was _really_ fun to write!) XD

globe amaranth

The bar is low-lit and quietly noisy, full of the low-level buzz of drunken people talking, laughing, and dazedly dancing to mood music underneath colored lights. In a corner booth, tucked away, four friends are celebrating a birthday, downing more than a few drinks between them.

"You know," Sakura slurs, more than a little tipsy on her first (official) trip to a bar, a bracelet of flowers moving up and down her arm, "I've always kind of had a thing for him."

Ino clinks her own glass, her eyes the drunk sort of bright and her cheeks red, "Who again?"

Sakura giggles, leaning against Tenten, whose own glass is nearly full with amber liquid. After all, she's the ride home, the designated driver who won't _ever_ get nearly as drunk as the other three (two, really, since Hinata never has more than a glass).

"Sasuke-kun. I've always kind of liked Sasuke-kun."

Ino rolls her eyes, gulping another drink and slamming the empty glass on the table with a thunk. "We _all_ know that, Forehead."

"Even when you dated G-gaara-san, or Kiba-kun?" Hinata sips her drink quietly, the Hyuuga manners still in place even when she's at a bar downing alcohol with one of the biggest partiers at their college.

"Of course she did." Ino lifts her glass in a mocking salute before swallowing her beer. "It's _obvious_."

"Plus," Tenten starts, her eyes bright, hair still up in customary buns, "he has a thing for _her_."

All three girls stare at the older one unabashed, their eyes bright and focused now that new information has come to light.

"_WHAT?_" Ino stands up, slamming her glass on the table, upsetting all the other drinks and slopping beer on the tabletop. "You're absolutely frickin'_ KIDDING me._ Sasuke doesn't have _hormones_, let alone _EMOTIONS._"

Hinata "meeps" in agreement. 

Tenten sighs and leans back in her seat. "You haven't seen him? Whenever he looks at her," she points at Sakura, who isn't paying attention, instead watching some of the people dancing in the middle of the bar, "his eyes get soft and he looks like…like a guy looking at the love of his _life_. And, if you haven't noticed, he's beaten up _every single one_ of her exes. Tell me he's not jealous. Just tell me."

"Well why don't you ask him?" Ino is still standing, but now she's pointing at a figure in the doorway, one with hair that sticks up in the back, one who's tall and thin and pale. "He's over there."

Sakura stands up, apparently not noticing the young man in the door, and goes into the crowd of inebriated dancers, starting to twist around, her arms above her head, surprisingly well-coordinated for someone whose totally sloshed. The three girls in the corner booth watch as the Uchiha moves into the crowd, maneuvering around a clump of drunken girls gyrating to the music, to stop in front of their pink-haired friend.

"Ten bucks that he makes out with her. Or vice versa." Tenten slams cash on the table and grins. 

Ino watches the two of them, Sasuke almost smiling and Sakura pulling him into the spin of the crowd, taking his hand and leading him into dancing with her, ignoring his protests—and slams another ten on the table.

"Better make that twenty."

_FIN_

_-unfading love-_


	8. be happy or else

A/N: Yay Spring Break! WOOT! (This has multiple unreal suffixes, _because I can_. XD)

lily of the valley

By his twentieth birthday, Sakura has a self-appointed mission, and it happens to be concerning him.

It's simple, really. He knows the details because she told him over the phone, probably cradling it with her shoulder while babysitting her younger siblings during one of her weekends home, and he could barely hear her over the volume of the Haruno children's antics.

"Hn?"

"I said, I think you need to be happier!" She shouts this over the phone, the noise of a TV program blaring in the background.

"…And why are you telling me this?"

The sigh that comes over the other end of the line, crackly with static, tells him all he needs to know. "You're just so…so…uptight, and cold, and you never seem to smile. I don't know how I ever put up with your…ice block-ness"

He frowns, and quickly stops, even though she can't see him, or (hopefully) can't even tell what he's doing when they're hundreds of miles away from each other, in different cities (and now his inner Kakashi decides to remind him of women's intuition).

"So anyways…" and she keeps talking, and he hears something that sounds a lot like a date and he begins to fear for his sanity, and was that just something about "going there and _dammit, Sasuke-kun_, _we are going to have fun whether you like it or not!_"

("And this is why you are still dateless at twenty," says his inner Kakashi, complete with all-knowing smirk)

But two days later, when he shows up at their meeting place (hoping that he got to the right one, or else he was totally screwed) and sees her standing next to a bush of white flowers, grinning and waving and running up to hug him happily (to the obvious ire of many young women passing by—_sweatdrop_) he grins. Ish.

(You know, just to make her happy, because otherwise he would get the crap beaten out of him and no, it wasn't because he was enjoying himself. Oh no. Remember, he's really good at denial. So it may take a while for him to realize that he_loves_her and yeah. A _long _while, due to the whole denial aspect.)

(_Deep_ denial aspect.)

They walk away together, her talking his ear off, and the status quo is returned to normal.

Well, sort of normal.

("So, Sasuke-kun, do you want to go here—" "No." "_Sasuke-kun!_" "Hn. Annoying.")

-_return of happiness_-

_FIN_


End file.
